1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety belt system, in particular one for motor vehicle seats, comprising a safety belt system which can be unwound from a reel and which is guided via a deflection device arranged laterally above the seat and having a passage opening, with the lower boundary of the passage opening being formed by a deflection roller for the safety belt.
2. Description of Related Art
The three-point safety belt systems customary in motor vehicles have a reel from which the safety belt can be unwound. This reel is mounted, in particular for the safety belts for the front seats of a motorcar, at the side of the associated seat in the floor region at the so-called B-column. Starting from this reel, the belt is guided over a deflection device arranged at the side above the seat on the B-column and is led from there back again to a second attachment fitting close to the floor for the end of the belt remote from the reel. Between the deflection device and the second attachment fitting close to the floor, the safety belt is guided through the passage of a latch element which cooperates with a belt lock arranged on the other side of the associated seat.
During the reeling in and unreeling of such a safety belt the belt is drawn through the passage opening of the deflection device. In order to keep the friction which arises during this, which loads the belt and which thus leads to wear, as low as possible it is already known to provide a deflection roller over which the safety belt is led in the deflection device. This deflection roller is arranged in the deflection device so that it forms the lower boundary of the passage opening. The jacket of the deflection roller, which has a correspondingly large diameter, thus forms the deflection surface for the safety belt. The belt which is subsequently delivered from below from the unwinding reel and which is largely also drawn off downwardly can thereby be guided largely free of friction.
As a result of the attachment of the deflection device to the B-column, the deflection device however is disposed in a rearward position with respect to the associated vehicle seat. The tension exerted on the belt when putting it on thus has a forwardly directly force component when viewed in the direction of travel which leads to the safety belt wandering on the deflection roller to one side of the passage and abutting against the side boundary there. Likewise, when winding the belt onto the reel, the safety belt wanders in the direction towards the other side boundary of the passage opening and thus abuts against the side boundary there. The belt thereby rubs against these lateral boundaries which can lead to wear and to a premature aging of the belt, which can indeed possibly endanger the trouble-free functioning of the safety belt, because the danger exists that the belt tears at the side. Moreover, the drawing out of the belt is not ideally easy.